Bill Callahan will once again work with Kevin Stefanski.
The Falcons announced on Tuesday that Callahan is joining Stefanski’s staff as offensive line coach.
The move was expected after Stefanski agreed to become the club’s head coach over the weekend. Callahan worked as Stefanski’s offensive line coach for the Browns from 2020-2023. Cleveland let Callahan out of his contract to work for his son, Brian, with the Titans.
When Brian Callahan was fired midway through the 2025 season, Bill Callahan also departed the franchise.
Bill Callahan led the Raiders to their last Super Bowl appearance to cap the 2002 season as their head coach. He’s also worked for the Eagles, Jets, Cowboys, and Washington in his long career.
Titans Clips
Before the 2026 coaching carousel exploded from two to 10 vacancies, the thinking was that first-time head coaches would have a hard time getting any of the available jobs.
So far, the four jobs that have been filled have gone to candidates who have previously been head coaches: Giants coach John Harbaugh (18 years with the Ravens), Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski (six years with the Browns), Titans coach Robert Saleh (three-plus years with the Jets), and Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley (four years at Boston College).
Six jobs remain open — Raiders, Browns, Cardinals, Ravens, Steelers, and Bills. Each will need to decide whether the preference is to hire someone who has been a head coach before, or whether to make the projection that a career assistant will be able to step into one of the 32 NFL head-coaching jobs.
It is a fundamentally different assignment. The head coach trades Xs and Os for the big-picture challenge of running a team, of communicating with a full locker room of pro athletes, of dealing with the media, and of properly delegating tasks to people who can be trusted to accomplish them.
Former head coaches who have gotten interviews in the current cycle include Sean McDermott, Mike McCarthy, Brian Daboll, Mike McDaniel, Jonathan Gannon, Jason Garrett, and Raheem Morris. Although some college coaches were lurking, it’s currently believed none will make the leap to the next level.
With so many jobs open, it’s likely at least one will be a first-time head coach. For now, however, they’re 0-4. It remains to be seen how many of the 10 total positions will be filled by someone who has never before been a head coach.
The man who coached the franchise that was originally named the Titans is on track to coach the team currently named the Titans.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and the Tennessee Titans are finalizing a deal that will make him the team’s new head coach.
Saleh previously coached the Jets (f/k/a Titans) from 2021 into the 2024 season. He worked as a consultant with the Packers after he was fired by Jets owner Woody Johnson. For 2025, he returned to the 49ers, where he worked from 2017 to 2020 as defensive coordinator.
He had a record of 20-36 in New York.
The move comes at a time when some believed Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy would be hired by the Titans. And perhaps Nagy will still end up there, as the offensive coordinator. (The Chiefs reportedly will be bringing back Eric Bieniemy.)
In Nashville, Saleh gets a young potential franchise quarterback in Cam Ward, along with significant cap space and a new stadium that is due to open in 2027.
Saleh also will face the Jaguars and coach Liam Coen twice per year. Which will spice up a rivalry that has been among the most dull in the entire league.
The Titans have completed in-person interviews with 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, the team announced Monday.
Nagy previously interviewed virtually with team officials.
It was Saleh’s first interview with the Titans. Saleh was initially scheduled for a virtual interview on Sunday, but the 49ers’ loss to the Seahawks on Saturday allowed him to interview in person.
The Titans interviewed 15 candidates during the first two weeks of their coaching search.
Nagy has spent the past nine seasons with the Chiefs. He was promoted to offensive coordinator after rejoining Kansas City in 2022 as senior offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach.
Nagy previously spent four years as head coach for the Bears (2018-21).
Saleh has spent 21 seasons in the NFL and is in his second stint as defensive coordinator with the 49ers. Before returning to San Francisco, Saleh spent three-plus seasons (2021-24) as head coach of the Jets, where he was 20-36.
His first stint as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator was from 2017-20.
Dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. And, thanks to plenty of the perennially dysfunctional teams, the league is a current dysfunction mess.
The current hiring cycle, which at one point seemed like it could be quieter than usual, has sparked turnover with 10 teams. Nearly one third of the league. Two jobs have been filled; with Monday’s termination of Bills coach Sean McDermott, the number of vacancies is back to eight.
Here’s how one current NFL head coach put it, in a Monday morning unsolicited text message to PFT: “At this very moment, [this is] the worst collective of 32 owners in league history.”
It’s a strong statement, but the proof is, if anywhere, in the pudding. Bad teams stay bad. They think that they can turn it around by firing the current coach and hiring a new one, because for other teams it happens.
But the cycle of hiring and firing and hiring and firing contributes to the situation. When the owner has an itchy trigger finger, the coach spends way too much time looking over his shoulder and wondering whether the next decision that doesn’t pan out will be his last.
There’s no competence test to pass in order to qualify to own a team. The paths remain simple (if not easy): (1) have enough money to buy a team; or (2) get your name in the right spot in the will.
While some of the currently vacant jobs are open for reasons unrelated to membership in the gang that couldn’t own straight, most trace to owners who feel like they need to do something, so they fire the coach. In plenty of cases, three years or less after firing the last one.
Meanwhile, the teams with capable owners will benefit. Rash decisions aren’t made. Patience is displayed.
Aaron Rodgers recently blamed the media for the presence of certain coaches on the “hot seat.” The blame goes to those who don’t know what to do (because they secretly don’t know what they’re doing), so they do the easiest thing — fire the coach.
Even if the coach isn’t the biggest part of the problem. Of course, for the truly dysfunctional franchises, the biggest part of the problem isn’t subject to a pink slip. Because owners can’t be fired for general incompetence when it comes to the on-field performance of the team.
Financially, they’re all performing well. They’re all winning, even when they’re losing. And those who are losing will feel compelled to keep the fans believing that the future will be brighter (or less bleak) by dumping the current coach, and by moving to the next coach in who inevitably will be the next coach out.
49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is set to meet with the Titans in-person on Monday and that’s not the only head coaching search he’s involved in at the moment.
The Ravens announced that they have completed an interview with Saleh on Sunday. Saleh’s meeting with the team came after the 49ers’ season ended with a Saturday night loss to the Seahawks in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady also interviewed with the Ravens on Sunday. Saleh and Brady join Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, former Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, and Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Seahawks offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, and Broncos quarterbacks coach/pass game coordinator Davis Webb as candidates in Baltimore.
Kevin Stefanski also interviewed with the Ravens before being hired by the Falcons and some of the others on that list could land jobs elsewhere as the Ravens move toward their own decision.
49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and the Titans have made a date for Monday.
According to multiple reports, the Titans will have an in-person interview with Saleh. He had been scheduled for a virtual interview with the team on Sunday.
Saleh’s season ended with Saturday night’s loss to the Seahawks. The former Jets head coach returned for his second stint running the 49ers defense this season.
The Titans are also set to hold second, in-person interviews with Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley over the next couple of days. The move to meet Saleh face-to-face and the timing of the other interviews would suggest that the Titans are closing in on their choice for a head coach.
The Titans’ second round of interviews will include another meeting with Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that they have scheduled a second interview with Nagy. Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is also moving on to the next stage of the coaching search in Tennessee.
Nagy worked for the Chiefs from 2013-2017 before leaving to become the Bears’ head coach. He started his second stint with the Chiefs in 2022 and Titans General Manager Mike Borgonzi was in the Kansas City organization for all but the 2025 season, so there’s a long relationship between the men.
The Titans are scheduled to interview 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh on Sunday and he could be added to the second round of meetings if all goes well.
Former Giants head coach Brian Daboll could wind up with another job in the NFC East.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Daboll is expected to interview with the Eagles for their offensive coordinator vacancy. Daboll has interviewed for the Titans’ head coaching job and Saturday brought word that he’s expected to meet with the Chargers about their offensive coordinator job.
Daboll coached the Giants for three-plus seasons before being fired during the 2025 season. Running back Saquon Barkley was on the Giants’ roster for the first two of those seasons, but he left for the Eagles as a free agent in 2024 and helped Philly win a Super Bowl.
That result was not warmly received by Giants fans and one imagines that they’d feel similarly if Daboll joins the Eagles and helps their offense improve on their 2025 performance.
The Dolphins aren’t the only team planning a second interview with Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
Albert Breer of SI.com reports that the Titans have scheduled a second meeting with Hafley on Tuesday. It was previously reported that Hafley will be meeting with the Dolphins.
Should all go well in that interview with Miami, Hafley could wind up with the Dolphins job before he moves on to Tennessee. The interest from both teams suggests that there’s a good chance Hafley will wind up being a head coach somewhere before this year’s coaching carousel stops spinning.
With the Giants hiring John Harbaugh and the Falcons hiring Kevin Stefanski, there are currently seven head coaching vacancies around the league.
